Red Cross Snake Farm, a Bangkok must-see

The girls' last adventure before returning to China was to visit the Red Cross Snake Farm. I am not sure if that is its real name, this is where they have various snakes and actually milk the snakes to make anti-venom, etc. David took them and they loved it, go figure? 

The people had really good English, though most of the visitors were Thai, they had two 'shows' going on...

the Cobra. King Cobras lock their jaws and release all their venom in one bite which is what makes them so deadly. The list of things that happens to your body after a bite is wretched. It has enough venom in that one bite to kill an elephant, and we actually heard that a worker was bitten during a show and died within ten minutes (not sure when that happened).

This is  a Siamese Cobra, and it hisses a lot.

The famous rhyme 'red and yellow kill the fellow, red on black is a friend to jack' I think only works to distinguish some North American Snakes (coral and the like). I would kill any brightly colored snake found in Asia (sorry snake lovers). This black and yellow snake is indeed poisonous.

 Here is a kind of pit viper. They are small (hence the use of the stick), and deadly. This is the kind that the groundskeeper found in our front yard in our Bangkok apartment.

 Not sure if you can see it clearly.  This is a copperhead, trying to strike/bite this guy, actually an aggressive non-venomous snake. Still couldn't pay me to do his job.

Oh, and the python...The girls were very interested in how each snake's venom worked or how it killed things. Sophia came home and  said: 'I touched the kind that strangles people'...

 All calm and collected...and then...

 and then he brought the head around to her and she jumped back startled.

 and your friendly non-poisonous snakes.

The show was extremely informative. David learned that Cobras can't see that well so you don't necessarily need to run, and another kind of deadly snake has great infrared senses in its nostrils, so if you see it, RUN! We learned that approximately 5 million people are bit by snakes a year, mostly in Asia and Africa. 200,000 are lethal....okay, now that you have received your snake education for the day....

If you haven't gotten enough and want to know more about Thailand's snakes: go here

Oh and did I mention the entrance fee was 150 Baht total for David and the girls, that is about $5.00, what a steal!

We are home, life is hard

We made it back home and we are so thankful....
The past few days have been a whirlwind, and still no rest in sight, but I keep reminding myself that rest is not what I signed up for in this stage of my life...
but that doesn't make it easier.
Whoever said, 'oh after three it is easy' or '3-4 is not hard' doesn't have my colicky baby + my 2.5 year old (ultra rebellion machine at this point) + the other two living life in transition and not knowing which way is up.  (I really don't believe in colic but I can call it that to gain your sympathy, or just to let you know she is not an 'easy' baby so far).
I have not been drinking in the word like I should, but I have been crying out....to see more of Him, to breathe Jesus...this too has been hard...because just catching my breath is hard....
and just now, a moment ago I read this post, not having been on the computer hardly at all, this is what I needed: this quote and the post along with it, Voskamp does have her way with words：My lips may have said yes to God’s grace of the Messiah – but my life has said No to God’s gift of this moment –
Read the whole thing HERE.

Siam Ocean World

David took the girls to 'SE Asia's largest Aquarium', he got discount tickets online and took the older girls only. They had a blast. Sophia's favorite part was the huge crab exhibit. Bella's favorite part of the aquarium was seeing the sting rays.

I have to include this fuzzy pic of the 'poison arrow frog' one of the most poisonous animals on earth. When we looked at this frog in a book for CC study, Bella was enthralled and scared. It actually kept her up at night. I kept assuring her (in China) and in Thailand that Asia didn't have these frogs. Little did I know they were part of this exhibit. She got to see a live one! We will see how she sleeps tonight.

Loving little sis

 first bath...in the sink...she loves it!

 eyes open!

 they love them some Gabrielle...

At home with Gabrielle

Going home from the hospital

 A nurse has to escort us out of the building, and they cover the babies like this.

 waiting for a taxi...

 Am I ready for this?

How we roll in SE Asia, no car seats for anyone! Yeah, we are going home from the hospital.

Facts, Confessions, Exaggerations, and Realities

Many people have written to ask how baby Gabrielle and I are doing. Today is the first day I have turned on my computer in a while. Here is a list encompassing the title of the post...

-Gabrielle is the gassiest Coker baby. The first few nights out of the hospital, we literally rocked her and rubbed her belly all. night. long. It hasn't gotten too much better since.
-I average about 2-3 hours total sleep a night, even after two weeks.  I often make up for it during the day. Sometimes.
-Tobin spiked  a fever for a few days. I thought it was Dengue fever, but while he was acting miserable, he wasn't acting that miserable (Dengue fever is miserable), day 4 we took him to the doc, who said his throat was red, and didn't do the blood test for Dengue, but he was negative for strep and flu...

-I have been frustrated with my sweet precious newborn. She is beautiful, but she is not quite living up to her middle name: Peace. I pray this over her every night.
-I waver between despair/tears and utter thankfulness, and truthfully sometimes the despair wins, until I get a little more sleep
-after getting 1-3 hours of sleep at night, I feel awful in the morning. When I get another 1-2 hours in the day, the world looks so much brighter.
-Gabrielle was gaining weight like a champ and normal Coker baby. The first week. Week two she dropped below average for weight gain per day. This has me questioning and second guessing every thing.
-I had already cut out all dairy, and usually gas is a stomach maturity issue, not a food issue, but dairy protein is often a culprit. The stress and anxiety may be limiting my milk supply...and the less fattier foods???? All my babies have fattened up quick and then started sleeping well, there seems no end in sight here...
-We introduced a pacifier, for sanity. It calms her and helps her relax to get her gas out (sorry this post is all about gas, it is affecting our life a lot).
-The first few days out of the hospital, when in certain positions I experienced jaw-dropping pain. One instance even took me to the floor. As David picked me up he reminded me that six inches had just been cut through all my lower abdominal muscles. Oh yeah. The doctor confirmed this was probably the culprit. It has since gotten a lot better.
-All the kids are doing okay, with zero routine to speak of. Guilt creeps at me in the area of school and serving David....and it keeps creeping
-we are ALL Bangkoked out. We are ready to go home. Sophia: 'I want to go home, I want to go back to my friends, I want to go back to my home country.'
-It has been almost two weeks since our embassy appointment, this is the longest it has ever taken, previously 5-8 days!
-we had multiple rounds of discussion about immunizations and how to bring them back in since the package lasts about 5 hours. And we won't be back out until next July! this means quite a few shots, and hoping they remain effective through 12 hours of travel.
-as of now our flights home are for Oct 15th. We thought for sure we would be packing up now and heading out early. Now, we have no idea.
-David is still my champion and super hero, often taking all three kids over half a mile down the street to swim in the afternoons. Today he took the older girls to the aquarium, which is awesome. This is their educational activity for the week/month/year.
-We have been getting out as a family, usually late afternoon we head up to a very close mall and get dinner, last night was coconut chicken satay (15 Baht a stick, that is about 50 cents), delicious. Our kids would eat sticky rice all day if we let them too. And I watch in envy as the kiddos and David eat Dairy Queen (though rumor has it that there is actually no dairy in Dairy Queen products, hmm..)

I was going to upload pics, to brighten up the post, but I think David took the camera. Next time. So, to answer the question: we are doing okay. Life is messy, life is hard these days, but as I sing to Gabrielle at night and I am convinced: 'Lord you are good, yes you are good, you are good to me...'